Faith, Trust, and Just a Smidgen of Magic
by Insomniac Dragon of The Skies
Summary: "It was like peering at someone through a crowd of moving people. If you focused hard enough, you could see the boy beneath all of the snark and glares. Dora didn't understand why rarely anyone tried looking for him." In her beginning year at Hogwarts, and despite her elder cousin's disapproval, Nymphodora Tonks tries befriending the ever unsociable, mysterious Severus Snape.
1. Chapter 1

Nymphodora Arabella Tonks knew that something extremely important was about to happen the moment she stepped into the dining room of her family's home in London, the afternoon of August 17th, 1973.

It all began with a letter.

She'd been playing outside with some of the other neighborhood children, although, there wasn't many who really liked her enough to include her in their games, so really she was just playing _around_ them. Everyday it felt like it was the same: _"She's got pink hair today!"_ they had screeched, - as if she couldn't hear them - whispering behind their hands like she was some sort of nasty frog they'd seen hop around on the pavement.

She didn't really mind, honestly; she was eleven now, old enough to keep herself entertained without anyone else's help. (Besides, who didn't like _pink hair?_ She'd tried blue yesterday, and, much to her confusion, they hadn't been too keen on that one either. Some muggles were just so hard to satisfy.)

After about ten minutes of laying on her back on the hard pavement, watching the clouds pass by and counting the different shades of color in the late-afternoon sky, she decided she'd had enough of the outdoors for one day. Patting the dust and dirt from her bum, she headed inside, pushing open their house gate and bounding for the front door.

The first thing she'd realized when she stepped through (alright, _tripped_ and nearly fell over) the doorway, was that it was far too quiet.

Usually her mother and father could be heard shuffling around, making tea, or debating about something they'd read in the _Daily Prophet_. Or, quite often, when they thought they were alone, the radio would be on and playing a merry tune, and Tonks would sometimes peek around the corner of the doorway to see them dancing. Her mother would laugh, and pretend that her father actually knew what he was doing, and he would twirl her around and dip her very gracelessly. The situation would usually end up with the pair of them falling to the floor (her dad always did trip over his toes, just like she did), laughing, and breathlessly happy.

They were always laughing. She wondered what was different about today. Her parents' voices were hushed and coming from the kitchen.

"Mum? Dad?" Tonks called out, her voice echoing through the hallway. The voices stopped, and her brow furrowed as she walked further into the house. Odd.

The second thing she realized, was that Sirius was sat at their dining table, covered in soot and grime. Tonks felt elation as she didn't even hesitate to throw her arms around her cousin in a hug. She didn't care if he was dirty; he almost never came to visit anymore, so it was worth it.

"Sirius!" She cried, laughing and hearing his booming chuckle in her ear.

"Dora," Sirius' voice was just as she remembered it: warm and mischievous. He smelled utterly horrible though. Of course, she assumed it had something to do with all the ash. Sirius looked her over with a smile, eyes lingering on her face, before flicking to the top of her head. He did a double take when he saw the color, "Merlin, your hair."

She grinned, "Like it?"

"Her hair?" Adromeda Tonks' voice had the lilt of a question to it as she stepped into the room, carrying a tray of biscuits. Tonks' father, who had been following just behind his wife, bumped straight into her back as the woman stopped abruptly, very nearly tripping over and spilling the kettle he held in his hands (a faint cry of 'bloody _hell_ ' escaped his lips as he righted himself). Adromeda's voice took on a firm, dignified squawk, "Nymphodora! What have we told you about morphing outside!"

Tonks frowned, but decided not to comment on the use of her detested full first name. Only her mother ever insisted on calling her that, and she was the only one who could get away with it without Tonk's hair turning a deep crimson.

"I didn't change it outside," the young girl defended herself. She knew she wasn't supposed to use magic outside of the house; she wasn't stupid. "I did it this morning when you were making breakfast, didn't you notice? Besides, I only ever go out changing my hair, Mum, nothing else. All the neighbors think, is that I just have a weird obsession with hair-dye."

"That Joe bloke from down the street asked me if any of her hair had fallen out yet from all the chemicals," Ted Tonks chuckled placing the kettle down on the table, "It was actually pretty fun- I mean, no. It wasn't funny. Not at all." He quickly back-pedaled when he saw the glare on his wife's face. Sirius choked back a laugh and disguised it as a cough.

Adromeda, rolling her eyes, turned to frown at her daughter hesitantly. "But... but, _pink_ , Darling? You're natural hair is just as beautiful."

Sirius slung an arm around Tonks' shoulder, "Oh, come on, Andi, don't be such a spoil-sport - let the kid have a little fun."

Tonks glared at him. Kid? He was only three years older than her.

Sirius caught her glare and smirked, mussing up her hair, "I think it looks great, Dora." He winked at her. She swatted his hand away with a grumble, but she knew he could see the grin she tried to suppress.

Tonks paused for a moment, remembering the hushed voices her parents were talking in when she'd entered the house. "Erm, Sirius... how exactly are you here? I thought..." she frowned again, recalling what she had been told the last time she'd asked why her cousin hadn't been visiting, "I thought you weren't allowed to come here anymore."

Ted and Andromeda exchanged a grim look.

She remembered the day she had found her mother crying into her father's shoulder, crying over Sirius' absence, saying something about his mother catching him. They hadn't told her much of what had happened, and all she'd gotten out of them was that Sirius couldn't be around them like before, even though he wanted to. Tonks had felt furious then, but that feeling didn't last very long. After all, she didn't know a lot about her aunts on mother's side of the family, or why they hated her and her parents so badly, but she knew a lot about Sirius.

And, knowing Sirius, he always found a way around rules. He might not have been able to visit as frequently, but she knew he would find a way to come back to them. Rain or shine, she knew he would.

That didn't make her less scared about him being found out though. Who knows what they would do to him if they caught him... she didn't like to think about it.

Sirius responded to her question with a self-satisfied grin. "Mother doesn't put a password on the basement floo. I snuck out when they went away on business, and I'll be back before they even realize I was gone."

Tonks felt relief flood her chest at that, and Sirius must've seen her expression, because he placed both of his hands on her shoulders and looked her straight in the eye. Looking into his face, she mused on how her cousin looked a lot like her mother, with dark curly hair and eyes almost brown enough to be black.

"Now, you listen to me. They won't ever find out I was here; nothing's going to happen to me, not when I'm this good at getting away," He smirked at her, like he was telling her a little private joke between just the two of them, and she did her best to smile back. Even though she wasn't sure she felt better about the situation because of that statement. "Besides," Sirius continued, and Tonks watched on curiously as he slipped his hand into his inside coat pocket, "If I hadn't left that wretched place, then I wouldn't be able to deliver this to you, would I?"

His hand pulled back out of his pocket, revealing an envelope with a deep red seal clutched in his fist. Tonks tilted her head, hearing her mother breath in a little gasp from where she stood next to her. She reached out to take it from him, but hesitated at the last second, suddenly unsure now that the atmosphere in the room seemed to have gotten a lot heavier.

"Go on," Sirius urged. He took her hand, opened it up, and placed the envelope delicately onto her palm. "Read it. It's yours."

Tonks gazed down at the slim piece of paper, taking it in two hands. It was crisp, an off white color that reminded her of cream, and there was neat calligraphy on the front in small, looped letters.

The flowing script read as such:

 _Miss Nymphodora Tonks_

 _2345, Cinnitom Street,_ _London_

Tonks had never had anything addressed to her specifically before. It made her wonder just what anyone would want with her, rather than her parents. Still, Sirius and both of said pair of parents were looking at her with something like anticipation welling up in their eyes, so she turned the envelope over and ripped open the ruby seal.

She read the first few lines of the letter, and, after re-reading them again in disbelief, her mouth went suddenly dry.

 _Dear Miss Tonks,_

 _We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into-_

"What is this?" Tonks whipped her head up, looking at Sirius with wide eyes. It couldn't be what she thought it was.

He grinned at her, face brightening. "Dumbledore himself asked me to deliver it to you."

Tonks looked back down again at the letter, her hands shaking as read the whole thing through without stopping this time. At the very end of the page, there was a message written in golden ink, the handwriting slanted and different from the formal print of the words before it.

 _Safe travels, Miss Tonks. We eagerly await you._

She felt suddenly dizzy.

"How..." Tonks glanced up from the letter and looked to her parents for answers. Her mother had tears welling up in her dark eyes, and her father held his wife close to himself, squeezing her shoulders.

Staring at the big, bright, watery smiles on their faces, Tonks had a feeling that this would be one of the moments she would remember of them forever. This picture of them, standing around their tiny dining room right smack in the center of muggle london, with Sirius' grinning face smeared with ash that he didn't even bother to clean and her parents on the verge of tears, looking so excited, and so proud, and so... _happy._

On the afternoon of August 17th, 1973, Nymphodora Arabella Tonks knew that something important was about to happen, and her chest tightened as her eyes fixated on the letter that had begun it all.

"Hogwarts is waiting for you, Dora."

 _Hogwarts was waiting for her._


	2. Chapter 2

If you were to ask any witch or wizard who had previously, or currently, attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry what the most excitable, magical time of the school year was, they would immediately respond with the start-of-term feast.

It was a wondrous sight to behold, with the great hall lit brightly by hundreds upon hundreds of candles floating high in the ceiling, of which was charmed to look like the sky and the stars outdoors. Great big platters and bowls were conjured to the tables, piled high with cakes, and puddings, and other foods that made one's mouth salivate just from the sight of it.

Indeed, it was all an incredible sight, but what really made the evening so special was the ecstatic, charged air of excitement around the hundreds of students who sat around the four tables in the room. This year, just like the years before, boys and girls of varying ages could be seen laughing and enjoying the evening's festivities to the fullest extent of their abilities.

However, there was one solemn-looking young boy who didn't seem to be enjoying the night quite as much as his peers.

Severus wasn't really caught up in the excitement of the feast this year.

The dark haired boy sat silently at his house's table, the students around him chattering on excitedly and digging into the platters in front of them with relish. One boy, an elder Slytherin, was attempting to turn his friends' goblets of water and pumpkin juice into rum, and, despite his best efforts, was unintentionally being rather obvious about it. (Severus didn't know the boy's name, but he looked like the sort to try and pull off something as stupid as becoming heavily inebriated on _the first evening of school_ ). Rolling his eyes to himself, he turned away from the blatant display of idiocy and looked around the room, dark eyes skimming over the candles and tables.

If one looked hard enough, you could see something almost akin to a smile quirk on his lips.

Still, despite being seated near a group of blundering dunderheads, it was nice to be back in the school's comforting walls. It had been a long, suffocating summer. And, what with his father being home most hours in the day, the only relative peace Severus had been able to get was when he shut himself in his room. He couldn't have packed his bags fast enough to get back to Hogwarts' grounds.

The dark haired boy continued to study the room, arms crossed lazily across his chest as his gaze drifted from table to table. He was about ten seconds into venturing further and further in the recesses of his thoughts when he felt the heat of someone's stare burning into his skull. Severus blinked, and, without turning, he let his eyes drag toward the left.

It didn't take long for him to pick out the boy - curly, shaggy haired and around his age - who was watching him. Sirius Black, looking ever the proud _,_ _bloody_ _perfect_ male student people mistook him for, sat right in the center of a thick crowd of people. He glared boldly at Severus with the kind of nerve only a Gryffindor would possess, scowling at him like he was a particularly nasty looking leech. Like he wouldn't have loved anything more than to crush him under his boot.

Severus felt his jaw tighten in irritation, but didn't look away.

Oh yes, how people made the _sore_ mistake of assuming Black was anything more than the rabid mutt he actually was. He wondered what people would think of their perfect, pure-blooded little Gryffindor if they were in _his_ position. If they were the ones on the receiving side of things.

Only a moment passed when Potter, who sat next to Black in all his bespectacled simpleton glory, looked away from the people he had been laughing with, following Sirius' stare. Almost immediately his stupid grin slipped off of his smarmy face. Without moving at all Severus stared steadily back, expression deadpanned save for the one eyebrow that cocked upward, as if to ask: _'problem?'._

Sirius didn't seem to appreciate that very much, his face filling up with even more annoyance even as the doors of the great hall swung open slowly, loudly emitting a long _creak_ and cutting their glaring contest short.

First years flooded through the doorway, bright eyed, their faces varying from nervous excitement to overwhelming happiness. Gazes turned in all directions, heads turned up to the enchanted ceiling in awe, eyes peering the food with gasps of disbelief, and some had even taken to blatantly staring at the upperclassmen in admiration and curiosity.

Sirius tore his gaze away and quickly looked to the oncoming first years. His lips twitched upwards, eyes seemingly searching through the crowd for something.

Severus turned just as the headmaster's voice boomed from the front of the room. "Attention! Attention, please." All heads turned as Albus Dumbledore stepped up to his owl lecturn, demure robes flowing with the movement, his gentle eyes peeking out at all of the four tables of the room from over the tops of his half-moon glasses. "Welcome, students old," his gaze drifted down to the first years, who had now settled beneath his podium, and his mouth formed a warm smile, "And students new."

This man was more powerful than anyone in the wizarding world could comprehend, the one person Severus respected most in this world, and as he smiled down at the children standing in front of him, Severus found himself remembering when he had stood there looking up at the headmaster with wide eyes and rapt attention. Had it really only been two years ago? It felt longer somehow.

"It is my greatest pleasure to have you all here, as well as to announce the start of another year here at Hogwarts School," Dumbledore went on, voice carrying through the silence of the room. "Now, without further delay, our very own Professor Minerva McGonagall will help assist with the sorting ceremony."

With that, the headmaster had once again took his seat, the air around the first years thrumming with anticipation as the first name was called. Severus could feel their nerves even from where he sat. Professor McGonagall, a woman with severe features dressed in deep green robes and square spectacles, placed the Sorting Hat on the head of a blonde boy named Armand Birch.

"Ravenclaw!"

Severus wondered how Ravenclaws retained their voices after the shrieking, piercingly loud cheer that went off at that. The blonde boy was welcomed warmly to his house, the crowd of students practically swallowing whole him as they swarmed to congratulate him.

Soon enough there were cheers from all around the room as, one by one, the children were placed in their perspective houses. Severus could just make out the Sorting Hat's leathery features as it scrunched them up in concentration. He'd never been fond of the hat; to this day he could still remember what it was like to have it's sinister, breathy voice in his ear.

 _'Ah, and what have we here? Well,_ you've _certainly got the ambition, don't you? Quite the mind as well... but... where... where shall we put you?'_

Severus scowled. All of a sudden he wasn't in the mood to watch the ceremony.

He made to turn away from the front of the room - at this point staring at his plate seemed like a better use of his time - but almost immediately stopped as a bright flash of colors flitted in his peripheral vision. Curious, he let his eyes slide forward again to focus on it, and watched as short, slight girl stood on the edge of the crowd.

His brow furrowed. Was her hair... _pink_?

The girl was a tiny thing; the black robes she wore were practically drowning her in a mass dark fabric. Large, doe-like eyes looked at all the people around her in curiosity, and a heart-shaped face was framed by, indeed, ridiculous bubble-gum pink hair. She pouted lightly as she stood on her toes and stretched her neck in a futile approach to see over the heads of the people blocking her view.

Severus could've sworn he saw her brown eyes flicker green for a split-second.

Before he could pursue that line of thought further, Professor McGonagall's stern eyes looked out into the sea of faces, her prim Scottish accent diverting his attention. "Nymphodora Tonks."

The pink haired girl blinked owlishly and stopped standing on her toes with a start. She scowled, as if someone had said something she didn't want to hear. However, the scowl was gone as soon as it came, and then there was a smile, small and excited, breaking out on her face. Severus watched as she disappeared through the crowd, black robes trailing behind her.

When she appeared again, she made for the steps leading to the sorting hat, but tripped on the hem of her robes. She stumbled, eliciting a collective gasp from the room. Thankfully, she seemed to catch herself at the last second. Wobbling on her feet for a moment, she stilled, ultimately alright and uninjured. She didn't even look the slightest bit scared or surprised (maybe this was a common occurrence), though her cheeks took on an embarrassed tinge of pink to match the color of the locks on her head.

Severus fought back the urge to roll his eyes when he heard the boys sitting near him snort.

The girl recovered from her clumsy spell quickly, not dwelling on her embarrassment as she continued on. She sat on the stool placed just for this occasion and the good Professor placed the sorting had gently on her head.

Just like the other children, the room waited silently for the sorting hat to make it's well-placed decision.

The hat whispered something in the pink haired girl's ear, and her brow furrowed in confusion as the silence stretched on. It was beginning to get just a bit eerie, the sheer quietness of everyone in the room. The girl looked troubled as she said something back to the hat in a hurried, heated whisper. Severus squinted in curiosity; no one would've been able to hear what she had said.

Finally, after what seemed like a tense eternity, the hat straightened itself, seemingly having made up it's mind.

" _Hufflepuff!_ "

Another deafening cry went off as the Hufflepuffs gave a standing ovation. Severus didn't even bother turning their way; he'd well gotten used to the sheer volume of all the cheers at feasts.

It was lucky that he didn't, because if he had he would've missed the way the pink girl's hair bled yellow at the roots. It didn't take long before the color spread all the way down to the tips of her shoulder-length tresses. As the Hufflepuff table yelled even louder, Severus stared, mystified and more enthralled than he had felt all summer.

 _Metemorphmagus._ He had only ever seen them in pictures in books before, and never one as young as her. Not only was she just a first year, but her comfort and complete control over her morphing was apparent even in that small display the whole school had witnessed. She didn't even bat an eye as she changed her hair. Severus found himself following the girl with his eyes as she walked to her new house's table.

 _Just who exactly was she?_

"Dora!" Sirius Black called out to the girl as she arrived at her table, and Severus watched as he very nearly trampled over people as he bounded across the room towards her.

The curly haired teen crushed the small girl in a warm embrace, saying things to her that Severus couldn't hear. As the girl, Dora, he assumed, smiled up at the male, Severus found himself scowling yet again that night.

She associated with Black. The dark haired Slytherin didn't know why that irritated him quite so much.

He snorted to himself, just about to turn away from the sickeningly sweet reunion the two had going on. Before he could though, a pair of very wide, very brown eyes flickered his way, catching his gaze and locking it.

It was like she was zeroing in on him; seeing him through a spyglass and lingering on him with eyes as big as a doe's. It had been a very long time since anyone had looked at him with that much interest.

The girl tilted her head curiously, like a dog, gaze never leaving his. Severus found his eyes snapping away from her's as he turned his back.

An odd pool of embarrassment twisted in his gut as he gazed at the plate in front of him. He could still feel her staring at his back.

The boys next to him laughed obnoxiously, and Severus's eyebrow twitched as the beginnings of a migraine stung his skull.

* * *

Tonks watched as the dark haired boy turned his back to her, frowning just a bit when she saw the tension in his posture.

Eyes tracing his back, she wondered just who he was. He seemed bothered when she looked at him... And he seemed like the only one out of the whole room who looked like he wasn't enjoying the night.

He looked... lonely. And it made Tonks feel a twinge in her chest.

"Hey, Sirius?" She found her voice saying without much effort on her part. She felt her cousin glance at her, even though her eyes never left the back of the mysterious boy. She nodded towards him, "Who's that? Do you know him?"

Sirius followed her gaze and scowled.

"Don't bother with him, Dora. He's not friend material," the boy replied, "It'd be better if you stayed away from him, really. He's not the sort you'd like, anyway."

Tonks blinked, confused. She almost never heard Sirius speak of someone like the way he was now. He was always happy and mischievous, nothing like the distaste that coated his words.

"What sort's that?" She asked, furrowing her brow up at her older cousin.

Sirius stopped glaring at the boy long enough to see her facial expression, and just as suddenly as he had gone, the happy Sirius was back. He grinned at her and tousled her hair much to her annoyance. "The greasy git sort, of course! Now go on, I just wanted to say hi to you before you started celebrating. Go bond!"

He pushed her in the direction of her housemates and smirked, before running off into the crowd. Tonks stared after him for awhile, but somehow she found her eyes drifting back to the Slytherin boy.

She frowned some more. He didn't look like a greasy git to her. Just bored, really. And lonesome. Maybe... maybe he just needed a friend.

And that was the last thought she had before someone in her new house pulled her forcibly by the arm towards the table and a surprisingly amazing array of pudding desserts.


End file.
